What is a Network Engineer at Burns & McDonnell?

As a Network Engineer at Burns & McDonnell, you are stepping into a role that goes far beyond traditional corporate IT. You will be designing, implementing, and securing the critical communication infrastructures that power massive engineering, utility, and construction projects. Because Burns & McDonnell is a leading engineering, architecture, and construction firm, your work directly supports high-voltage transmission lines, renewable energy sites, power generation facilities, and large-scale transportation networks.

Your impact in this position is twofold. First, you ensure that internal project teams—ranging from environmental scientists to electrical engineers—have reliable, high-performance connectivity to execute complex, data-heavy tasks like GIS mapping and CAD modeling. Second, you often consult on or design the operational technology (OT) networks for external clients, ensuring that critical infrastructure, such as utility substations and SCADA systems, remain secure and robust.

This role requires a unique blend of deep technical expertise and consulting acumen. You will face challenges involving scale, strict regulatory compliance (such as NERC CIP for utilities), and the convergence of IT and OT environments. Expect a dynamic environment where your network designs directly contribute to the safety, reliability, and success of national infrastructure projects.

Common Interview Questions

`

Getting Ready for Your Interviews

Preparing for an interview at Burns & McDonnell requires a strategic approach. You must demonstrate not only your technical networking capabilities but also your ability to operate as an owner-operator within a 100% employee-owned firm.

Technical Proficiency – Interviewers will assess your foundational and advanced knowledge of routing, switching, firewalls, and network architecture. You can demonstrate strength here by confidently discussing specific protocols, hardware configurations, and how you design for high availability and redundancy.

Problem-Solving & Troubleshooting – In complex engineering environments, networks will fail. You are evaluated on your logical approach to diagnosing issues, isolating faults, and restoring services under pressure. Be prepared to walk through your root-cause analysis methodology step-by-step.

Client & Stakeholder Communication – Because this firm operates on a consulting model, you must be able to translate complex networking concepts to non-technical project managers, civil engineers, and external clients. Strong candidates show they can listen to business requirements and design technical solutions that fit the project scope and budget.

Ownership & Culture Fit – Burns & McDonnell prides itself on its Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) culture. Interviewers look for candidates who demonstrate high accountability, a proactive mindset, and a commitment to safety and continuous improvement.

Interview Process Overview

The interview process at Burns & McDonnell is designed to be thorough, collaborative, and highly practical. You will typically begin with an initial screening call with a recruiter, which focuses on your background, high-level technical experience, and alignment with the firm’s culture. They will also confirm logistical details, such as your openness to travel (often up to 25% for project site visits) and your preferred office location.

Following the initial screen, you will move into a technical interview with a senior engineer or team lead. This stage dives into your core networking knowledge, exploring your experience with specific vendor ecosystems (like Cisco or Palo Alto), routing protocols, and enterprise network design. The final stage is usually an onsite or comprehensive virtual panel interview. During this round, you will meet with multiple stakeholders, including IT leadership and cross-functional project managers, to discuss behavioral scenarios, complex system design, and your approach to client-facing consulting.

The company values a highly practical interviewing philosophy. Rather than abstract brainteasers, expect questions grounded in the real-world challenges faced by an engineering and construction firm. They want to see how you handle ambiguity, prioritize tasks with tight deadlines, and collaborate across diverse disciplines.

`

`

This visual timeline outlines the typical stages of the Burns & McDonnell interview process, from the initial recruiter screen to the final panel evaluation. Use this to pace your preparation, ensuring you are ready for both the deep technical assessments in the middle stages and the broader behavioral and cultural evaluations at the end. Keep in mind that specific rounds may vary slightly depending on whether you are supporting internal IT infrastructure or client-facing operational technology projects.

Deep Dive into Evaluation Areas

To succeed, you must excel across several key technical and behavioral domains. Interviewers will probe your depth of knowledge and your ability to apply it to large-scale, critical environments.

Network Architecture & Design

This area tests your ability to build robust, scalable, and secure networks from the ground up. You will be evaluated on your understanding of LAN/WAN topologies, SD-WAN implementations, and how to design networks that support high-availability requirements. Strong performance means you can justify your design choices based on business needs, cost, and reliability.

Be ready to go over:

• High Availability & Redundancy – Designing resilient networks using protocols like HSRP/VRRP and understanding spanning tree topologies.
• WAN Technologies – Experience with MPLS, IPsec VPNs, and SD-WAN deployments connecting remote project sites to corporate hubs.
• OT/IT Convergence – Understanding the unique requirements of Operational Technology networks, such as SCADA systems used in power generation and transmission.
• Advanced concepts (less common) – Micro-segmentation, cloud networking integration (AWS/Azure), and QoS for critical control traffic.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "Walk me through how you would design the network infrastructure for a newly constructed remote utility substation."
• "How do you ensure redundancy between a primary data center and a disaster recovery site?"
• "Explain your process for evaluating and selecting an SD-WAN vendor for a multi-site enterprise."

Routing, Switching & Infrastructure

This is the core of your day-to-day technical expertise. Interviewers want to ensure you have hands-on experience configuring, managing, and troubleshooting enterprise-grade hardware. You should be highly comfortable with the OSI model and the mechanics of data flow across complex topologies.

Be ready to go over:

• Routing Protocols – Deep knowledge of OSPF and BGP, including route redistribution, metric tuning, and peering configurations.
• Switching Fundamentals – VLANs, trunking (802.1q), STP/RSTP, and port aggregation (LACP).
• Hardware Ecosystems – Practical experience with Cisco Catalyst/Nexus switches, ISR/ASR routers, and potentially industrial switches used in harsh environments.
• Advanced concepts (less common) – Multicast routing, IPv6 migration strategies, and network automation using Python or Ansible.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "Explain the difference between OSPF and BGP, and describe a scenario where you would use each."
• "How do you prevent a switching loop in a complex Layer 2 environment?"
• "Walk me through the steps you take to configure a new BGP peer with an ISP."

Security & Compliance

Given the firm's heavy involvement in critical national infrastructure, security is paramount. You will be evaluated on your ability to implement defense-in-depth strategies and maintain compliance with strict industry regulations.

Be ready to go over:

• Firewall Administration – Configuring NAT, access control lists (ACLs), and deep packet inspection on platforms like Palo Alto, Cisco Firepower, or Fortinet.
• Network Access Control (NAC) – Implementing solutions like Cisco ISE for device profiling and secure access.
• Regulatory Frameworks – Familiarity with NERC CIP compliance, which is heavily utilized in the electric transmission and utility sectors.
• Advanced concepts (less common) – Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA), IDS/IPS tuning, and site-to-site VPN cryptography standards.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "How would you securely segment a corporate IT network from an industrial control system (ICS) network?"
• "Describe your approach to writing and auditing firewall rules to ensure the principle of least privilege."
• "What steps would you take if you discovered unauthorized traffic attempting to traverse a critical network segment?"

Troubleshooting & Operations

Networks break, and your ability to fix them quickly is critical. This area evaluates your systematic approach to identifying root causes under pressure. Strong candidates do not guess; they use data, logs, and structured methodologies to resolve incidents.

Be ready to go over:

• Packet Analysis – Using tools like Wireshark or tcpdump to analyze traffic flows and identify latency or dropped packets.
• Monitoring & Alerting – Experience with SolarWinds, PRTG, or similar SNMP-based monitoring tools to proactively identify issues.
• Incident Response – Your step-by-step methodology for tackling a P1 network outage.
• Advanced concepts (less common) – Automating incident response workflows and conducting post-mortem root cause analysis (RCA) documentation.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "A remote project office reports that their connection to the main data center is dropping intermittently. How do you troubleshoot this?"
• "Walk me through how you use Wireshark to diagnose a slow application performance issue."
• "Tell me about the most difficult network outage you have ever resolved. What was the root cause?"

`